or water. The only way in which money could be
raised was by the imposition of higher duties on imported goods, and
the Upper Canada Assembly therefore requested the Assembly of Lower
Canada to impose new duties on imports sufficient to make up the annual
interest on the war losses loan, required from Upper Canada. But the
Lower Canadian Assembly would not impose new taxes upon imports for any
such purpose. They sympathised with the sufferers, but as all the
disposable resources of both provinces had been employed in resisting
the unjust charges of the war, it was not now expedient to increase the
taxation on imported goods, such as wines, refined sugar, muscovado
sugar, or by so much per cent, according to value, on merchandise. The
Assembly of Lower Canada would not do anything in furtherance of the
views of those who had made such representations to England as had led
to the "Canada Trade Act." They did not of course say so. They,
however, immediately afterwards, passed a vote of thanks to Sir James
Mackintosh and some other members of the House of Commons, who had
succeeded in persuading His Majesty's ministers to relinquish their
support of a bill introduced into the imperial parliament in 1822, with
the view of altering the established constitution of Canada, and the
remains of which bill was the "Canada Trade Act." Upper Canada had
another way to obtain money from Lower Canada. The Upper had a claim
upon the Lower province. There were arrears of drawbacks due by Lower
Canada upon importations into Upper Canada during the war, of which no
exact entries had been made at the Custom House. The "Canada Trade Act"
had provided that the amount due was to be decided by arbitration, and
arbitrators appointed, in 1823, had awarded to Upper Canada L12,220.
Upper Canada applied to Lord Dalhousie for the money, but his lordship
was so embarrassed with financial difficulties that he was compelled to
refer the matter to the Assembly. The Assembly would not pay the same
sum twice. The Governor had used the money in paying the public
officers of Lower Canada, inasmuch as the award had been made in 1823,
and from the time of the award the amount due to Upper Canada was not
at the disposal either of the government or of the Assembly, but should
have been paid to Upper Canada. The Governor had virtually suspended
the execution of the Canada Trade Act and had, in consequence, exposed
Lower Canada to the misfortune of a renewal of the